Take Back Your Lunch
Wednesday, 23 June 2010 | by Pat's Picks
Early in my career, I made a decision about lunch. Except in a full-scale breaking news situation, when mealtime rolled around I always found time to step away from my desk and recharge. Looking back, it wasn’t much of a break and I usually spent it at McDonald’s or Pizza Hut. But it didn’t matter - I always purposely refused all offers by someone to get lunch on my behalf because I loved having 20 minutes away from my computer and the phone. It appears that I’m not alone. I was alerted to an event going on all summer called Take Back Your Lunch. Inspired by the fact that 75 percent of office workers say they eat at their desk more than once a week, the premise is simple: every Wednesday this summer make a point of eating lunch outside the office.
There are few other places in the world where people need to be cajoled into taking time off from work. @xopchipili responded to my “Take Back Your Lunch” tweet this morning with this:
@patkiernan just what i need, a big chunk of unpaid time in the middle of my day. taking lunch isn’t worth having to work later!
Jesse Richman
xopchipili
So for those who still need convincing, studies show that having a little time off during the day actually improves your focus, productivity and general mood. Plus, it means you don’t have to take choke down last night’s leftovers all over again.
Read more about Take Back Your Lunch
Organizers of Take back Your Lunch say they were inspired by this book: The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working: The Four Forgotten Needs That Energize Great Performance
